Sacked Jarvis workers protest at Network Rail's headquarters

Up to 300 sacked Jarvis workers and their supporters staged an angry demonstration today, Wednesday, outside Network Rail’s London headquarters.

The protesters were among 1,200 workers who lost their jobs last month after the rail contractor went into administration. A coachload of workers from York was to joined another from Doncaster.

The workers met outside their RMT union’s headquarters and then marched to Network Rail, wearing T-shirts saying 'Jobs not Dole' and 'Justice for Jarvis Workers'.

They chanted, “Sack the bankers not the workers”

They were calling for Network Rail to reallocate former Jarvis contracts to other companies and rehire Jarvis workers on existing terms and conditions.

Sacked Jarvis worker Bill Rawcliffe said, 'We need to keep highlighting this issue, we are not going to let it become old news. It's been eight or nine weeks now for these guys without pay, for some of them they couldn't even afford to come down here to this protest.”

Bill received a warm response as a Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate for Doncaster North.

The company made profits from outsourced rail maintenance work but ran up huge debts on PFI contracts.

There were no negotiations about redundancies and no holiday pay. No redundancy money was offered.

The protest is just the latest in a series of marches and demonstrations organised since Jarvis went into administration last month.

The protest was addressed by supporters from the PCS and CWU unions, and the Right to Work Campaign

Workers have been without pay for nearly two months. They are furious that the administrators DeLoitte are still paying mangers and the workers will be protesting at The Deloitte offices in Leeds on Friday 7 May.

If you enjoy Socialist Worker, please consider giving to our annual appeal to make sure we can maintain and develop our online and print versions of Socialist Worker. Go here for details and to donate.